Unique Collaboration with Students Yields New Mobile App to Simplify Insurance

Farm Bureau Financial Services has introduced a mobile app developed as part of the very first interdisciplinary app-building course at the University of Missouri-Columbia. The My FBFS iApp includes simple daily tools like a gas mileage calculator and a car game for kids, plus simple ways to manage information after an accident, and connect with an agent — all in one place.

The mobile app was born out of a first-of-its-kind collaboration by both journalism and computer science students.

“The opportunity to partner with a paying, corporate client was new ground for the Reynolds Journalism Institute (RJI) and our students,” said Mike McKean, Associate Professor at the Missouri School of Journalism and Futures Lab Director at RJI. “Through this engagement, students learned how to innovate against an identified business need and manage the process from concept to delivery.”

This is the first course in the country to blend journalism and computer science for an integrated communications experience. The development of the mobile app also gave the students real-world experience by allowing them to both design an app that fits consumer needs and work with students in other disciplines, much like they will in the workplace.

“A less conventional approach to mobile app development made a lot of sense,” said Scott Shuck,

Farm Bureau Financial Services’ Vice President, Marketing Services. “The My FBFS iApp helps us connect with our consumers where and how they want to. The fact that we could help students with a real-world, corporate experience through this process was an added benefit – it was a winning combination for everyone involved.”

McKean agrees, noting that the collaboration provided invaluable real-world experience for the students.

“The work we did with Farm Bureau Financial Services as a partner proved the value of cross-curricular collaborations,” McKean added. “Our students are skilled in their chosen fields of study, but the opportunity to interact with peers from other majors and draw from their perspectives and skill sets is a unique and important part of their preparation for the business world they’ll enter after graduation.”

To learn more about the Farm Bureau Financial Services mobile app, go to FBFS.com/iPhone-app.

About Farm Bureau Financial Services

Through an exclusive, multi-state agent force, the companies affiliated with the Farm Bureau Financial Services brand underwrite, market and distribute a broad range of financial services products, including life insurance, investments, annuities, property-casualty insurance products and services and more, to individuals and small businesses within a marketing territory that includes 15 states. For more information about products and services, visit www.fbfs.com or contact a local Farm Bureau agent. You can also visit Farm Bureau Financial Services on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.